Jones vs. Sonnen: Is it right? Do you care?

The news that Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen have been selected as coaches for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter sure has a lot of people up in arms.

I understand it. In fact, I wrote a story today for my real job explaining why the fight is ridiculous. But I also wrote that I understand why the fight is happening and why Sonnen has bypassed Rua, Henderson and Gustafsson in the pecking order.

Dana White will tell you Sonnen got the shot because Jones was injured and can’t fight until April, and because Sonnen was the only guy that stepped up to fight Jones back in September. He also says that the other guys turned down opportunities to fight Jones when offered, so they can’t complain.

None of those are the real reasons, though.

The real reason is that Jones vs. Sonnen will help boost the ratings of a flagging TUF franchise, and the pay per view main event in April will sell like gangbusters. And that’s okay. It’s fine to make decisions based on what’s good for your business.

In an ideal world, Dan Henderson would have gotten the next shot at Jones. He’s the rightful number one contender, and his injury will have healed in time. In fact, the UFC was targeting Jones/Henderson for the Super Bowl weekend card in Las Vegas. But I think that all changed when the ratings for last Friday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter came out and just 650,000 people watched it. In just a few short days, we went from a potential TUF season coached by Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis—and White insisting that Jones would fight Anderson Silva—to one with significantly more clout in the star power department.

It doesn’t mean I agree with it, and it doesn’t mean I like it. But this is the reality of the situation: The UFC is driven forward by pay per view, and until that changes—until they can rely on network television for most of their events—decisions like this will continue to be made.

7 Responses

TUF worked on Wednesday nights because it was Wednesday night and if the choice is some crappy show or watching a couple so so fighters fight, we would rather watch 2 guys fight. Going out to the bar or a high school football game or a party on Friday night is going to trump watching 2 no name guys maybe put on a good fight or maybe just get winded at the end of the first round. As far as the fight between Jones and Sonnen…I assume it will end just like Sonnen did against Silva. Hendo is getting screwed …the guy doesn’t have much time left to fight at a Championship level and he has fought his way into getting one last shot. Sonnen is a mouth, and willing to fight for sure but deserving of a title shot at 205? I don’t think so. How about suggesting to Dana that TUF could be reworked to doing half of the seasons of named fighters that have been cut from the UFC for whatever reason but can still fight and offer them another shot in the big show? Roy Nelson was a known fighter to some and he has turned out to be a big hit.

Well said Kevin. TUFs problem isn’t the star power of the coaches, it’s scheduling it on Friday nights. TUF’s ratings will never recover until they move it to a middle of the week time slot. If FOX refuses to do this, the show will die. I give Sonnen very little chance against Jones. I won’t buy it unless there are other fights I really want to see on that card. The main event won’t get out of round one. I don’t think Jones will ever fight Silva. Silva won’t take the chance of losing to tarnish his legacy. But GSP might be crazy enough to fight Silva, and I think Silva will take that chance. Silva’s odds of beating GSP are much better than his odds against Jones. I’d still like to see Hendo vs. jones. At least Henderson has a punchers chance. After that, it’s time for Jones to beat up all the heavy weights and capture another belt.

I don’t hate the fight. I don’t know who else there is for Jones to fight though. I don’t feel that Henderson has done anything beyond what Sonnen has done in order to get a title shot. I know it seems like Sonnen has used his mouth to get a coaching stint and fight, but he did offer to fight whenever.

I probably will buy the fight. I would like to see Sonnen get over that hump he seems to have with big fights. He kind of has that Florian syndrome.

I do agree with Jon Fitch though who recently said that there is no clear path to a title shot in the UFC. He’s right. In wrestling, football, or band, you can challenge the person directly above you for their spot, or for varsity, or for the title. The UFC switches back and forth between legit title and contender matches to popularity contests.

I have no idea why Silva won’t fight Jones. I think it’d be a toss-up but you may be right about the whole tarnished legacy thing.

Sonnen hasn’t fought as a light heavyweight in the UFC since 2006, and during that stint he posted a 1-2 record. He just lost his last bout in a lower weight class and has never won a championship. Dan Henderson is a highly decorated fighter who’s on a 4-fight win streak (during which he became Strikeforce’s Light Heavyweight Champion) including last year’s Fight of the Year.

And you don’t think Henderson has done beyond what Sonnen has done for a light heavyweight title shot?